Balancing
by Rosetta Stoned
Summary: Kiba can't walk the balance beam. Kankuro to the rescue! Rating and title are subject to change. KibaKanku. Lemons to come? Perhaps. AU.


**AN**: I know! I know! Hows about updating one of the other fics you are writing. Well I will! But for now I am really really into KibaKanku so I hope you enjoy. 33 I think this is going to turn out cute, and I want everyone to know that I am trying really really hard to keep things at a steady pace and not make them super fast like _You Better WORK_. Anyways, this is for all you KibaKanku fangirlies out there with some taste in literature and not lemons. They may come later, but lets take it slow. Oh, or fanboys?

**Disclaimer**: I do not own _Naruto_ or any character thereof.

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He was so persistent. It didn't even matter how many times he fell of the damn balance beam, Kiba always got back up. It was funny really. Why couldn't he do this, it was so simple. All he had to do was walk across it, but he really just couldn't. Naruto could, and so could Sasuke. Kankuro and Neji both made it over, even Chouji! Lee did a cartwheel across it, but Kiba could not do it to save his soul.

He just kept falling down. All the other boys in gym moved to the rope, and to the pull up bars, but Kiba still picked himself up and tried to walk across the beam over and over. From across the gym Kankuro watched, it seemed so ridiculous that someone couldn't walk across a balance beam. He was finished with the course by now, the slower boys all scurried to the benches near him. Chouji even made it over before the bell, but not Kiba. Everyone went back to the locker room and changed their clothes, Kiba shuffled in last, very unenthusiastically. Kankuro watched him change back into his school uniform, and when the bell rang they all flooded out of the locker room and headed back to class.

Kankuro sat in Calculus, tapping his pencil on his desk. He thought about his first year in high school, he was a third year student now, it seemed like such a long time ago. Ibiki-sensei droned on in the background about the composition of functions, but Kankuro was stuck on this balance beam business. Watching the little first year struggle to do something so simple made him remember his first year in gym. At Sarutobi High School you were required to take gym for at least two years. Kankuro decided last year that he didn't want to take gym, so for his second course he was in a class with a bunch of first and second years. It was irritating, but at the same time it was nice to get a break from all the pressures of being a third year. It was the hardest year of school, because you work so hard in your third year to finish all the classes you need, and when your fourth year comes around you get a good break. Temari was totally having the easiest year ever, she was graduating this summer. Kankuro had one more year to go after this.

He recalled having no trouble with the balance beam, even as a first year. Of course he didn't expect Kiba to be limber, and bold like Lee, but it shouldn't be impossible for him to make it across the damn beam. He shook his head, shaking the thoughts away and decided it was time to get some work done.

The bell finally rang and as always Kankuro meandered out into the hall, and to his locker to pick up the books he needed for homework, and grabbed his car keys he kept on the little hook behind his spare jacket. When he pulled his notebook out of his locker, it fell on the floor and a bunch of papers splattered all over the ground around him.

"Great." Kankuro muttered to himself gathering the papers.

The hallway was beginning to clear; there were a few people still calmly walking around, and a few running by trying to catch their busses. When Kankuro had all his papers he stacked them back in his notebook he walked down the hall toward the back of the school where the student parking lot was. Surely Gaara was waiting for him by now, Temari had a student council meeting, and so she was going drive home in her own car later. The halls near the back of the school were dead quiet, no one was left. While passing one of the short halls that branched off from the main hall, Kankuro heard the rattling of a locker door, still. He glanced down the hall to find Kiba fiddling with his locker. It seemed to be stuck.

"Damn thing, I can never get my books out!" He cried.

Kankuro sighed and shook his head as he walked past. That kid couldn't do anything right. He heard the locker fling open eventually, and then the clumsy jogging footsteps of the young boy moving away with him. He walked out the back door, and to his car. Gaara was waiting impatiently by the shiny black car.

"It's about damn time." The red haired boy groaned as Kankuro walked up.

"I dropped my stuff in the hall, I had to pick it up."

"Well it sure took you long enough, the busses already left and everything." He was so impatient!

"Whatever, just get in." He glared over the top of the car as Gaara opened the door. "God, you wear too much eyeliner." He shook his head as he slid into his seat, putting on his sunglasses.

"Shut up!" Gaara huffed.

The two drove along in silence for a moment. They came to a stop at an intersection, the walk light was on, and there was one lonely kid crossing the street as they pulled up. From behind, it almost looked like that Kiba kid. This reminded Kankuro of gym, he looked over at Gaara.

"Hey Gaara, you're a first year. You have any trouble with the balance beam, today?" He asked. Maybe it was a kid thing.

"No, that was so easy." Gaara answered.

"Just wondering." Kankuro nodded.

Kankuro pulled up the rod iron gate in front of his house and typed in the pass code. The boys pulled into the drive and parked in their three car garage. The Subaku children were a bit spoiled, but not in the rotten since. Their dad was like the ambassador from the next country over or something. They lived in a big, nice house and both of the older kids drove nice, shiny cars. Gaara would get one too when he was old enough. They were pretty much loaded.

Once Kankuro got inside, he went straight to his room like he usually did. He threw his backpack on the floor next to the door as he walked in, it landed with a thud as it was full of books. He closed the door behind him and waltzed over to the far side of his massive room to his desk. He pulled his SHS blazer and tossed it over to the sitting chair he had near the bookshelves. He loosened his tie as he took a seat in his computer chair. With a werr his computer started up. It was his routine, much like the routine of many others his age, to check his myspace as soon as he got home. He logged on and checked his messages and his comments. There was a comment on a photo of him with cake frosting all over his face from that Tenten girl. She was a second year, and she was completely head over heals for him. It was a bit annoying. "_kankuro u look lyke such a q.t!!!_" it read. He sighed and closed his browser. He was done with the illiterate scrawl of stupid school girls for now. For a guy with an abnormally big nose, he felt like he had a few too many fangirls.

But why not? He was a pretty good looking guy. His hair was shiny, and perfectly messy, his skin was clear and it had a nice color. He wasn't super pale like his little brother. He was smart too. He got straight As even though all his classes were hard. He was also a bit of an athlete. He was captain of the varsity soccer team. Not to mention he was rich. He hated to admit it, but that was probably the reason so many girls liked him. There weren't that many people at their school with money like him. There was that little Hinata girl, and then Itachi and his little brother. But even so, no one had as big a house as the Subaku family.

He leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk. He flipped on the TV and watched the news. He wasn't like most boys his age. He was very mature, very serious. It was weird, but it was how he was raised. Temari was the same way, except she was a girl, so she somehow had more fun than him. Gaara was a screw up, he was nothing like Temari or Kankuro. He was a kid still, so maybe there was hope, but probably not. He was kind of hyper, and he didn't get fabulous grades either. He was probably just not going to be like either of his siblings, ever.

About an hour later when the news loop started over, Kankuro flipped the TV back off. He sighed, he hated this time of day. It was about two hours before any good TV came on, so unless he had a ton of homework there was nothing to do to fill the time. He finally waltzed back over to the other side of his room to retrieve his backpack. He pulled his history book out and out popped his notebook again. The papers scattered on the floor again, in a less messy manner, they were all easy to gather this time.

"Damn thing." He sighed.

That was a new one, nothing he had really said before. The phrase made him recall that afternoon in the hallway. That poor kid had some luck. First he couldn't complete the second easiest task in gym class, and then his locker got stuck, and then he missed the bus and had to walk home today (if it had been Kiba he had seen at the intersection). To top it all off, he was probably poor, too! He shook his head pitying the young boy.

He set his books on his desk and started reading and taking notes. There was a test the next day, and he was not about to fail it. He was kind of shooting for valedictorian, he seemed to be first in the running in his class, but he could always fall behind Kabuto. That guy was a genius.

After another hour passed, Kankuro was ready for food. He hadn't eaten lunch, and he hadn't grabbed anything to eat after school. His stomach growled leaving that gravely feeling in the back of is throat. He decided to go down stairs and get a snack, even if it was just a little bit before dinner. He trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen. Kankuro scanned the counters quickly and his eyes fell upon a bowl of fruit. He grabbed an orange and then headed back upstairs.

He laid on his bed and pealed his orange.

_Brrrrringg_. His computer chimed notifying him that he had a new email. He ate the orange and then wiped off his hand on a towel sitting in the dirty clothes hamper in his closet. He took a seat back at his desk and double clicked the notification window that had popped up on the screen. It instantly took him to his inbox. It was an automated message from myspace. "Kankuro, iinuboii wants to be your friend!" it read.

"Who?" He cocked an eyebrow and double clicked the URL at the bottom of the email.

The URL took him to a myspace profile with little dogs all over it. There was no picture posted so he scanned the 'about me' section looking for a name. There were half a dozen advertisements for the layout site this person had used, and a bunch from . He dug through the links until he came to a blurb of nearly indecipherable scrawl.

"_dis b ur giirl iino hackiin mah boii kiibaz myspace!!1!!11!! ii made dis accnt 4 him cuz he duznt no ne-thiing bout da iinternet!!1!!1_" is what is read. Maybe.

It took him a good five minutes to figure out what she was trying to say. People these days! Why was it cool now to type like you don't know how to talk? He couldn't remember why he had accepted Ino as one of his friends on myspace. She was one of those annoying myspace whores that had to have everyone they had never made eye contact with on their friends list. He came to the conclusion that she had made the Kiba boy a myspace, and was adding everyone she knew, or thought he knew to his friends list. He shrugged, it wasn't like he ever really talked to anyone on the damn thing, so why not accept it? He went back to his request page and checked the accept box next to the boy's name.

Whatever.

The next day Kankuro drove to school by himself. Temari and Gaara had left early that morning, and Kankuro was in no mood to rush. He pulled up in the school parking lot just a few minutes later than normal. When he got out of his car, there was a group of young girls coming towards him. Probably to corner him about some stupid cheerleading fundraiser or something.

"Kankuro!" Squealed Tenten. Her voice was less shrill than Ino's (who was standing with her), but it was just as annoying.

"Hi, Tenten." He sighed shutting his car door.

"Hey I was wondering if you – alright stop, Ino," She giggled. "I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies Friday." She grinned up at him. He was a bit taller than her.

"Can't. I have practice that night." He lied.

It looked as if her hopes were dashed. "Oh… Ok…" Tenten said softly.

Kankuro didn't feel too bad about it. He really couldn't stand little girls. And to him Tenten was just another little girl.

"It's ok, Tenten! Maybe next weekend." He could hear all the other annoying girls comforting her as he walked away. He shook his head and rolled his eyes.

He walked in the back door, and into the main hallway. It was flooded with kids of all grades like usual. He glanced down the second to the last branch hall like he had the day before. Sure enough Kiba was bent on one knee fiddling with the locker again. He shook his head once again and made his way to the nearest soda machine for some caffeine. He slipped four quarters into the designated slot and then punched the Pepsi button on the front of the machine. It spat out a bottle of Pepsi. He cracked the bottle open and took a sip as he made his way down the hall to Anko-sensei's history class.

He had a test for first period, so at least he was getting one of the hardest things out of the way quickly. Kabuto glared at Kankuro as he walked into the room. They both wanted the title of valedictorian so bad they could taste it. Kankuro was ahead by barely a decimal, the slightest difference in percentages on even the smallest assignment made all the difference in the world. Kankuro glared back taking his seat in the front of the class. Kabuto sat in the seat next to him.

"How long did you study last night, Kankuro?" Kabuto said nastily.

"What does it matter, I am still going to get a better grade than you."

"Yea, sure." He glared at him harder.

Kankuro was smart, but he wasn't a nerd. That was the difference between the two of them. Kabuto studied constantly, and he still couldn't get better grades than Kankuro. Anko-sensei distributed the test and in no time Kankuro was finished, but who was still working? Kabuto was. He wasn't even halfway through. Haha. Score one for Kankuro.

Second period was mild, anatomy was particularly easy today. Third period was gym, the second to the last class of the day. SHS was on one of those fancy four by four schedules. When Kankuro got to gym, he walked right into the locker room. After changing into his gym uniform he went back into the gymnasium. Kiba and a few other boys were already dressed out and waiting on the bleachers. Naruto was giving the little brown haired boy a hard time about yesterday.

"You couldn't even get a foot into the thing!" He cackled.

"Shut up, I'm just not naturally graceful." Kiba blushed.

"What are you a girl? No, a girl could walk a beam." Naruto laughed again. All the other boys laughed, too.

"You guys are assholes." He pouted and turned away from the group. He looked up and caught eyes with Kankuro.

Feeling awkward Kankuro cocked an eyebrow. The little brown haired boy blinked a couple of times and his cheeks tinted a deeper pink. He shot his gaze away from the older boy and got up heading back over to the balance beam. Kankuro could only assume that this wasn't about to end well. As he had yesterday, Kiba climbed atop the beam just to fall down again. Again, and again, and again.

About a half an hour passed, Kakashi-sensei, the gym teacher, just gave everyone credit for dressing out today, and let the boys have a free day. Naruto and Sasuke played two on two basket ball with Lee and Neji. Chouji sat on the sidelines acting as a cheerleader for either team between bags of chips. Kankuro sat on the bleachers reading over his calculus notes. He glanced up from his notebook to catch Kiba falling off the balance beam for the thirty-second time. He bobbed his eyebrows and shook his head.

Shortly after, he glanced up to see Kiba limping over to the bleachers. He must have actually gotten hurt in one of those thirty-two falls he took.

"Ah." Kiba sighed. "Ouch, ouch." He said plopping down on the bottom row of bleachers.

"Give up?" Kankuro said setting his notebook down beside him.

"I think I rolled my ankle on that last fall." He answered.

Ah. Kankuro knew the feeling. He'd done it a few times in soccer. That hurt. "Oh. I'm sorry." He said. He wasn't entirely sure what to say to the boy. Not in this conversation, not in any conversation. He just didn't know him that well.

"Do you have any change?" Kiba said looking back up at the boy sitting on the third row of bleachers. "I need something to drink."

Kankuro nodded. "Hold on, lemme check my backpack." He walked back into the locker room and grabbed a few quarters out of his bag. "Here you go, kid." He said dropping the change into Kiba's hand.

Kiba stood up shakily and Kankuro climbed back up to his spot in the third row. "Ssss. Ow. Sssss. Ow. Ssss. Os." Kiba would hiss every time he took a step. It made it really hard to study his notes with all his hissing.

Kankuro glanced up from his notebook. "You need some help?" He kind of glared at the young boy.

"N-no. Ssss. Ow." He took another step.

Kankuro sighed heavily and set his notebook back down on the bleachers. "You sit." He took the change out of Kiba's hand and waltzed over to the soda machine irritated and bought him a bottle of water. "Here you go."

"Thank you." Kiba smiled half heartedly up at the boy. He seemed to feel kind of bad for irritating him.

"You're welcome." He sighed taking his seat on the bleachers again.

This was the most interaction Kankuro had had with anyone in this class besides Kakashi-sensei all year. To be honest it wasn't so glamorous. He was quite content with keeping to himself and studying or doing anything else than interacting with the idiots in this class. Although he had to admit that Kiba seemed to be different from the other boys. He was quieter and most calm, seemingly shyer. He was the best kind of little boy: the kind that didn't often talk. At least not to people he didn't know.

The small class herded back into the locker room soon after and by the time the bell rang they were all dressed back out and ready to go. Kankuro once again made his way to calculus.

At the end of the day he went through the same routine, except this time he was fortunate enough for his notebook to not spill all over the hallway. He headed back down the main hall, earlier today, towards his car in the parking lot. He was pretty sure that Gaara was riding home with Temari anyways, so he didn't really have to worry about him waiting for him. He once again glanced down the second to the last hall to see if Kiba was still having trouble with his locker. He sure enough was. As he had the day before, Kankuro shook his head feeling sorry for the kid. He made his way out to his car, and no one was waiting for him.

He climbed into the car, and when he did he dropped his keys in his floorboard. "Damnit." He felt around for a few minutes and then his hands landed on something cold and hard, surely his keys. He picked them up and stuck them in the ignition. The car started up and just like yesterday he pulled out of the parking lot onto the road and back up to the intersection.

The same lonely kid was walking across the street again. He was limping this time so it surely had to be Kiba. Kankuro watched the boy limp down the street for a minute while the walk sign blinked. He rolled his eyes and banged his head on the stirring wheel. Damnit all if he didn't have a heart. He flipped on his blinker and turned down the road Kiba had been walking down. He pulled up next to him and rolled down the window.

"Hey kid, get in. I'll give you a lift." He motioned his head in the direction of the passenger side door.

Kiba looked at him. "No that's ok." He shook his head. "I can walk." He said starting to limp away.

"No, just get in the car."

"But I'm ok. Ssss. Ow." He hissed.

"Come on, just get in the car." Kankuro coaxed.

"No really, I'm ok." Kiba looked back over at him and then away as he took another step. "Ssss. Ouch."

"Get in the damned car!" Kankuro demanded.

"Ok!" Kiba squeaked and scurried around the car with a limp to the passenger side. He finally got in.

They drove along down the street for a moment in silence. "You gotta tell me where to go." Kankuro said.

"Ok. Just turn down here." Kiba said. Kankuro turned down the street. "This is a nice car." The young boy said softly.

"Yep." Kankuro slid his sunglasses onto his face.

"Ok, well. Turn here." Kiba pointed through the windshield. "Thanks for giving me a ride." He said thankfully.

"No problem, you're hurt." He smiled over at the young brunette politely.

"Oh yea. Thanks for the water, I don't remember if I thanked you for that."

"It's cool."

The car fell silent again. Kiba looked out the window, and Kankuro drove down the rode. "Ok, I live right up here. It's the next street over. Turn here." Kiba pointed through the windshield again.

Kankuro obeyed. He pulled up near the sidewalk in front of a modest looking house. It wasn't too big, and it wasn't too small. The yard was medium sized, and there was definitely no rod iron gate with a keypad outside of it.

"Thanks again." The young boy smiled skittishly up at Kankuro.

Kankuro coolly nodded. "See you tomorrow, uhh. Kiba?"

"Uh, yea." Kiba smiled a little bigger. It was one of those the-cool-kid knows my name smiles. "See you tomorrow, Kankuro." He grinned and limped up to the house and walked in the door.

Kankuro felt kind of a cool. Kiba seemed to be excited to see that he knew his name. One thing he definitely liked about being a third year was having kids like Kiba look up to him. He was making Kankuro's head big, because he probably wasn't all that into him. But he seemed to be.

If nothing else, Kankuro had to admit that Kiba was kind of cute, in a way. Wait, that wasn't a weird thought was it? Maybe a little, but probably not. Whatever. Kankuro was in a pretty good mood for the rest of the way home.

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**AN**: Aww! I feel like that was kind of cute. It'll get better. I would like reviews please, constructive critism is always nice. (: The quicker I get reviews the quicker I posted the next chapter. Hope you liked this one. 33 Oh btw, sorry for any gramatical or spelling mistakes. This fic like my others was compsed late at night. So you will have to excuse me if I mess up a little.


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